I’ve bought 2 DVD burners and and they both came with a SATA/PATA adapter.
(granted they were the same brand, Samsung)
After considering the advice of the helpful dopers who’ve weighed in on my problem, I just went out and Best Buy’ed a cd/dvd burner. Not as cheap as online, or wholesale computer stores, I imagine ($65 including tax), but if it’s as easy to install as I’m led to believe, I should be up and running in no time. Factoring in the stupidity factor, I intend to report back here in a matter of an hour or so, hopefully after having seen my son’s vacation pictures. xo, C
Thank you Good People. You clarified it better than 30 minutes of Google searching had done.
I’ve got a CD drive (read only) that appears to be going and I hadn’t even thought about a DVD reader/burner until reading this thread. I figure that for $20-30, why not upgrade? So, look for a IDE/PATA model or make sure an adapter is included. Good information.
You could even get a CD/DVD/BD reader or writer, but those are still expensive. BD (Blu-ray Disc) units haven’t really hit the mainstream yet.
:smack: Ok. It’s not as easy to install. I’m going back to BB and getting an external drive - one I can simply plug in to the USB ports on the front. I don’t know what I was thinking. I can fix all manner of mechanical ills around the house. This is something else. Apparently the stupidity factor is much larger than I had thought. :mad:
Optical drives are pretty straightforward to install, CC, but they are not always intuitive. Usually the hardest part is getting the case opened up to the point that you can access all (usually) 4 screws that hold it in.
Fact is, the configuration of my computer, a Dell, is such that I could see that I’d have to remove all sorts of stuff before I could even get to the drive. I just ordered an external drive from Geeks.com and it’s 2/3 the price of the one I returned. It takes smarts to know what you don’t know.
Ahh, Dell.
Yeah I remember struggling with one of these cases for a friend. He also was having trouble putting in a DVD drive. I thought he was so silly for not being able to do this simple task until I took a crack at it.
Dell REALLY doesn’t want you opening up your PC. I remember it taking me an hour (of sweaty confusion) to do what should have been a 5 minute job.